To facilitate the professional learning of teachers and bring about changes in pedagogical practices, it is necessary to understand the process by which teachers grow professionally. Professional growth can be achieved when teachers work together to engage in professional experimentation and see results in terms of salient outcomes for their…

Implementing inclusive education requires on-going commitment to teachers' professional learning. One way of implementing professional learning is to develop learning communities based on Lave and Wenger's ideas of situated learning and learning as social practice. Learning communities, drawing on models of Professional Learning Communities and…

This article provides evidence of a new teacher professionalism whereby teachers, acting as collaborative individuals working together, are the key to effectively meeting the needs of diverse student cohorts. Drawing on data from Australian school contexts and the work of researchers from the Leadership Research International team, new…

Purpose: This research is situated at a metropolitan university in Melbourne (Australia) where the authors work in initial teacher education programs within the same faculty. The purpose of this study is to raise awareness that collegial, collaborative and "co-caring" environments can foster an improved sense of belonging, acceptance and…

Australian students' performance on national and international literacy assessments has declined since 2000, while teachers in contemporary classrooms contend with conditions of increased complexity and uncertainty. In July 2017, the Australian Government commissioned a panel of experts to provide advice on how to improve Australian students'…

Contemporary teachers have an obligation to support and scaffold students' learning in digital technologies and to do this in authentic contexts. In order for teachers to be successful in this, their own competency in digital technologies needs to be high, and their own 21st century learning skills of communication, collaboration, creativity and…

This article contributes to understanding of professionalism in early childhood education and argues that in working to implement a mandated curriculum framework, professional identity and professionalism can be enhanced. While primarily focused on examining the nature of leadership practice during professional development and learning to…

Previous research into the knowledge required for teaching has focused primarily on pre-service and in-service teachers' knowledge. What is less researched, however, is the role of the teacher educator in helping pre-service teachers (PSTs) develop the knowledge needed in order to teach mathematics to students. The focus thus shifts from examining…

The role of "academic partners" working alongside teachers is an increasingly complex and sometimes controversial one. This article explores the role of academic partners in "Educational Action Research," reporting on data from a larger study conducted in New South Wales, Australia. Schools involved in the study had received…

Traditional conceptions of teaching are being challenged as many schools, especially in New Zealand and Australia, are designing and implementing multi-class flexible learning environments. These de-privatised, innovative learning spaces provide opportunities for teachers to work differently in collaborative co-teaching teams to collectively…

In this "Postcards from the Podium," a strategy employed by academic development staff in an attempt to increase participation in sharing best practice at an Australian university is outlined. A casual review of the literature from a diverse range of group-based, face-to-face workshops throughout the year focused on enhancing teaching…

Peer review of teaching has become an accepted educational procedure in Australia to quality assure the quality of teaching practices. The institutional implementation of the peer review process can be viewed as genuine desire to improve teaching quality or an imposition from above as a measure of accountability and performativity. One approach is…

Digital technologies are an important requirement for curriculum expectations, including general ICT capability and STEM education. These technologies are also positioned as mechanisms for educational reform via transformation of teacher practice. It seems, however, that wide-scale transformation of teacher practice and digital learning remain…

Distributed leadership has been explored internationally as a leadership model that will promote and advance excellence in learning and teaching in higher education. This paper presents an assessment of how effectively distributed leadership was enabled at five Australian institutions implementing a collaborative teaching quality development…

The impact of quality teaching on student learning has led to an increased focus on professional learning to support and improve teacher practice. Review of the literature on effective professional learning suggests six elements that support sustained change in teacher practice; namely, focus, learning components, feedback, collaborative…